


Story Time

by startrekkingaroundasgard



Series: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV [7]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Children, Fluff, Gen, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark at MIT, Male Friendship, Old Friends, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reminiscing, Tony Stark Lives, Tony's Metal Arm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29960697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startrekkingaroundasgard/pseuds/startrekkingaroundasgard
Summary: Morgan asks Tony about teamwork for a piece of homework and he tells her about some crazy stories from his youth with his oldest supporter and friend, Rhodey.TSBMIV square A1 - Old Team
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2045506
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Story Time

“Dad, tell me about The Avengers?” 

Tony’s fingers locked around the screwdriver in his hand. His breath came a little shorter as Morgan tottered around the shed-slash-lab and attempted to pull herself up onto a stool. It was slightly too tall for her so Tony scooped her up and plopped her on, the grip of her little hands on his shirt and soft scent of shampoo helping to ground him. 

He tapped his metallic fingers against the workbench, smiling softly when his beautiful girl started to match the rhythm. Tony hadn’t even realised that there was a pattern to his anxious energy. The hard edge of the bench dug into the small of his back, solid and unmoving. “Why?”

“For my homework. I have to write about someone being part of a team.”

There were plenty of records out there detailing how perfectly balanced The Avengers had been, analysing their strengths and weaknesses, preserving the façade that they had always been a tight knit group of friends and heroes. It was the myth of their legacy, a carefully woven blanket of trust to cover every awful thing they’d done. 

Morgan must have read all the stories and was smart enough a girl to realise that they weren’t the complete truth; she wouldn’t be there asking if she thought otherwise. Tony wondered whether his and Pepper’s complete silence on his ‘superhero’ past only added to her curiosity on the subject. 

They played it that she was too young but as she neared a precocious seven years old Morgan had become more insistent. Telling the truth simply wasn’t an option – Tony regretted much of his life, not just his choices regarding The Avengers – but he wouldn’t lie to his daughter either. However, now was not the time to open that particular Pandora’s box. 

A small smile graced his lips as he thought of an entirely different story to tell. He set the screwdriver down with a steady hand, a calmness rolling through him as he thought back on better times. “I’ve got an even better idea. Come with me.” 

Tony felt the warmth of Morgan’s hand in his as he led her through to the back of the shed. For someone that threw money at things, there weren’t many things that Tony had kept throughout his life. Those that he did were all but worthless, although their value far outstretched the million dollar cars he’d wrecked or even the tech that powered his suits. 

He scanned the cryptic scribbles on each box and soon found the ones he was searching for. He tossed Morgan his penknife as he grabbed the second box and watched her reflection in the window as she sliced through the tape, careful to mind her fingers. So, she did listen to his safety instructions after all. 

Tony dropped down to the ground beside her and felt a shiver run up his spine. He quickly tapped a panel on his metallic arm and immediately felt the vibrations as the underfloor heating kicked in. Another few seconds and a warmth began to seep through the tiles. More comfortable now, the pair wrinkled their noses as Tony dug through the box and released an unfortunate cloud of dust. 

Morgan picked out a picture and grinned. “Why is uncle Rhodey wearing a bra?”

He couldn’t remember the exact circumstances that led to that particular moment but Tony smiled fondly at the image nonetheless. He could make a good guess – something involving a _lot_ of cheap vodka mixers and the cute girl in the dorm along – but Morgan was much too young to hear those stories yet. Instead, he plucked the photo from her hand and said, “Get your eyes checked. That’s definitely a crop top.”

“It’s bright pink! And frilly! _”_

“Don’t shame your uncle’s fashion sense.” 

Morgan rolled her eyes and continued to dig through the cardboard box. Wrinkling her nose at a crushed beer can, she asked, “So, you think I should do my homework about you and uncle Rhodey?”

“Yep. Story time, kiddo. Ready?” She crossed her legs and looked up to Tony with wide eyes, absolutely brimming with excitement. It made his heart clench in his chest and, not for the first time, Tony wondered what he had done to deserve the gift of having Morgan as his daughter. 

From the bottom of the box he pulled out a brick. Morgan frowned, turning it in her hands, looking for a secret message in the fading smear of yellow spray paint. She shook it, decided it wasn’t hollow and dropped it on the ground. Tony caught it before it shattered in two and pursed his lips together. “Do I drop your unicorn statues to see what’s inside?”

“No… Sorry, dad.”

“It’s okay, sweetie. It’s just a brick.”

Her face screwed up in an adorable little frown, her rosy cheeks and messy hair just too cute to focus on her confused annoyance. “That wasn’t a very good story.”

“I haven’t started telling it yet. So, picture this. I’ve been awake for three days, I’ve drunk _far_ too much coffee and am wandering around campus in the dead of night, looking for inspiration. I go past these guys that are spray painting graffiti the side of the biotech lab and suddenly I have a really great idea as to how to fix a problem with my latest robot. I need to write it down before I forget so I just take one of their spray cans and start scribbling my formulae all over the wall.”

Morgan’s jaw dropped open. That mischievous spark in her eyes both worried and overjoyed Tony. “You _vandalised_!” She whispered the word as if speaking it might actually summon police to take him away.

“Good word. But is it really vandalism if it was for science?”

“Yes!”

Proud of his daughter’s moral compass – clearly learned from her mother – Tony laughed and continued, “Anyway, the other guys have run off by this point because they can’t keep up with me and I just keep working. At some point, Rhodey finds me and he freaks out. He tells me that I’ll get in serious trouble and we have to get rid of the evidence.”

“But your formulae!”

“I know! We try to wash it off with a fire hose -”

“That won’t work! You need an acid striper!”

Tony grinned, so proud of her chemistry knowledge. “You’re absolutely right, Morg. _But_ sleepy me forgot that and we wasted a very long time. By the time the sun started to rise, we knew we were in trouble and had to get rid of my evidence somehow.”

Morgan leaned forward, chin perched on her knuckles, absolutely enthralled. Tony could practically see the cogs turning in her head as she worked through possible solutions to a decade’s old problem. “What did you do?”

“Rhodey stood watch as a I broke into our tech lab to get my hydraulic glove. It was a very early prototype of the tech in the suits and I basically punched the wall until we could pull loose all the bricks that had my formulae on and destroy them. This brick is all that remains.”

“That’s not true,” Morgan protested. “It’s so silly! And it would take so long! You should have just broken into the biotech lab – _where you already were –_ and get a striper solution from the storeroom.” 

“Well that would have been far too sensible. Also, if your mother asks, breaking and entering is _wrong_ and the right thing to do would have been to apologise to the dean and strip away all the graffiti the next day. _”_

She waved her hand in the air dismissively, with such disregard for the rules that Tony knew she was definitely his daughter. Morgan stared at the brick then looked up at Tony and, eyes scarily bright, said, “So, you worked as a team to hide a crime?”

“Technically that’s true. Let’s focus on the good communication, delegation of tasks, watching each other’s back and solving problems together.” 

Nodding sagely, Tony knew that Morgan would absolutely _not_ focus on those things in her report. For now, though, she wore a soft smile and said, “You made a good team.”

“Still do, Morg. Rhodey’s been on my team longer than pretty much anyone else in the world. I don’t know where I’d be without him.” 

“In jail, I think.” Morgan grinned as she dug through the box and found a set of dice from a casino Tony had long since been banned from. Tossing them between her palms, she asked, “What’s the story with these?”

Tony leaned back against the wall and started, “Well, you know how I told you I could never take you to Vegas…” 


End file.
